in_a_peartree | snickfic's Tree

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in_a_peartree

This is the Tree for

snickfic! Below are the requested Pears it can be decorated with (beginning 24 December).

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snickfic
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Snickfic

Request 1: Ficlet, MCU gen, about any combo of Thor, Loki, Valkyrie, Bruce, and Heimdall aboard the Asgardian refugee ship. Maybe there's a holiday involved? Or hurt/comfort?

Request 2: Any kind of shippy sketch or drawing (kissing, cuddling, earnest eye contact, porn?) for any of the following MCU ships: Thor/Heimdall, Valkyrie/Loki, Heimdall/Loki, Heimdall/Valkyrie, Loki/Stephen Strange, Gamora/Heimdall, Bucky/Shuri, Minn-Erva/Maria Rambeau.

Request 3: List of 2-5 of your favorite rock songs and what you like about them. Spotify or Youtube links a bonus!

Request 4: Recs for horror novels from the past ~15 years. I especially love body horror, cosmic horror, horror with lots of atmosphere, and horror featuring female characters; would prefer no stories focused on sexual violence.

Request 5: Mpreg ficlet for any of the following MCU ships: Thor/Heimdall, Valkyrie/Loki, Heimdall/Loki, Heimdall/Valkyrie, Carol/Yon-Rogg, Bucky/Shuri.

Additional Information: Please no Infinity War/Endgame-related content.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

evewithanapple

Horror novels!

Paul Tremblay's "The Cabin at the End of the World" is a bottle episode horror, with seven characters trapped in a cabin, four of them believing that the apocalypse is about to happen, and three trying to escape. It's EXTREMELY tense and dark.

Brian Hodge's "The Immaculate Void" is pure cosmic horror - the protagonist, Daphne, was kidnapped and nearly murdered as a child. As an adult, she's spent her life trying to track down her captor's other victims, but grows to realize that something larger is moving towards her.

David Nickle's "Eutopia" and "Volk:" the first book takes place in a eugenicist colony in rural Idaho, where experiments meant to create the perfect human have resulted in a monster being unleashed. The second one takes place in 1930s Germany fifteen years later, where the Nazis attempt to harness the monsters to their own purposes. Both books have a very strong atmosphere/sense of place, and not a small amount of body horror.

T. Kingfisher's "The Twisted Ones:" Mouse is asked by her father to clean out her dead grandmother's house in North Carolina. She finds her step-grandfather's journal, which she initially dismissed as dementia-induced ravings - until the creatures he wrote about start to appear outside the house. Strong atmosphere. Also, the dog survives!

Gemma Files' "Experimental Film" follows a film history professor named Lois Cairns, who sets out to investigate a forgotten Canadian filmmaker from the early twentieth century, only to discover that the films are haunted by a hungry Scandanavian ghost - who now has her eyes set on Lois's son.

From:

snickfic

Oh my gosh, these all look great, and there's only one I've even heard of before (the Paul Tremblay one). I'm especially excited about the Brian Hodge one, because I've consistently liked the short stories of his that I've read, and "pure cosmic horror" is my kryptonite. That one is going on the library hold list AS SOON as I get through my Yuletide reading.

Thank you so much!

From:

flowerdeluce

Hi Snickfic,

Here are three of my favourite rock songs and what I like about them, complete with links.

I hope they appeal :)

Happy holidays!

Sniff ‘n’ the Tears – Driver’s Seat [Spotify link]
A classic, but I love it (and I can’t even drive!) The pace of this song makes it impossible to sit still while listening, at least for me anyway.

Roy Orbison – You Got It [YouTube link]
It was difficult choosing just one of Orbison’s songs, but I managed! I love his smooth vocals in this song (particularly that strong ‘baby!’ at the end of the chorus) and how catchy it is. It’s also such a happy love song and always cheers me up.

Khruangbin – Maria Tambien [YouTube Link]
I wasn’t sure if this band’s amazing instrumental music counted as rock, so I googled it and… apparently nobody is sure! According to Wikipedia, their genre is hotly debated, but the most commonly used term to describe their sound is ‘Thai funk’. (It does list rock as one of their styles though, so I hope I can sneak this one in.) The whole album this song is from—Con Todo El Mundo—is gorgeous. Despite the lack of lyrics, this is the kind of song that simply demands your attention as soon as it starts and won’t let you go.

From:

snickfic

Eeee, thank you so much! I tried the Maria Tambien one immediately and it's really interesting. I can't wait to listen to the rest of them. And thanks so much for telling me what you liked about them. :)

From:

immolate_the_silence

What an amazing request! Music is the epitome of happiness for me and I don't get to talk about it as much as I'd like. I'm totally a metal girl but have a lot of rock songs that are close to my heart, so thank you for letting me share them :)

There She Goes - The La's - I grew up listening to this song, so it has enormous nostalgia for me. It's also such an infectiously happy song that I can't help but grin and just feel so deliriously happy whenever I play it. For a song pertaining to not being able to contain one's love and joy, it definitely passes on every ounce of those feelings to the listener.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu2iv-vMKT8

Mouth - Paradise Lost - One of my favorite bands no wonder what genre they dip into, though they're predominately a metal band of the gothic/doom variety, this song and album definitely fall heavier on the rock side. For an album created during a creative slump, this is one of my favorite albums ever and possibly my favorite song period, though it is hard to pick just one. This is another song that just makes me so ridiculously happy listening to it and also gets me pumped 'cause it's so catchy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h010Epjzuk8

Shackled - Vertical Horizon - Vertical Horizon is an amazing rock band and I could list several songs here, but for some reason Shackled has always kept a tight hold on my heart. Maybe it's Keith Kane's voice, who sings such a very few number of songs as he is not the band's lead vocalist, and the sheer power and rawness and almost agony of it, but it's also the lyrics that really hit me hard. I put it on as many playlists as I can get away with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq6DG-Sm2zU

Zombie - The Cranberries - One of the quintessential rock songs in my opinion, Dolores O'Riordan's haunting vocals never fail to leave a mark. The climax of the song is one of the best I've ever heard and Zombie is timeless and powerful in a way that few other songs achieve. I've been waiting to outgrow this song with all the years I've been listening to it, and if anything it leaves an increasingly greater impression.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ejga4kJUts

Everlong - Foo Fighters - This is just one of those songs that I have to crank every time it plays on the radio. It's just such a beautiful and uplifting love song and I love how fast-paced it is, how it just lifts you up and keeps you running and keeps your heart beating until it lets you off the ride at the close. Plus, it's just such a sweet love song; I know I wish this song was written with me in mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBG7P-K-r1Y

Thanks for letting me share and happy holidays!

Edited Date: 2019-12-25 01:06 am (UTC)

From:

snickfic

Eee, these all look awesome. Thank you so much for making this list and taking the time to tell me what you liked about them, because hearing what other people like about a song often helps me like it, too. I can't wait to start listening. <3

From:

sholio

"What is this?" Brunnhilde asked, brushing past a dangling curtain of sparkling ... ice? Beads? And then she got a good look at the Statesman's main hall and fell silent in shock.

The Statesman's main hall was probably meant to be a cargo bay, but the Asgardian refugees, with their fondness for communal feasting and socializing, had taken it over and turned it into their primary community space. Most of the traditional trappings of an Asgardian feast hall were impossible here (no roaring fires, no roasted beasts served on platters the size of tabletops); even tables were difficult to come by. But they'd done their best, outfitting it with makeshift furniture and with mats for wrestling, spaces for gameplay, couches for sitting and listening to stories.

But there was always an industrial quality to the place that nothing could quite cover up. The towering metal walls were the walls of a starship cargo bay; there was really no getting around that.

It had never looked like this before.

A cool breeze blew in her face, scented with pine. Around her, snow-covered hills rolled under a winter sky. There were pine trees, and her people around bonfires, playing in the snow, sitting on snow-crusted logs and sipping mugs of mead. It was the sort of traditional winter scene depicted in a hundred wall paintings, the sort of thing she'd experienced only rarely, even in her youth, at the remotest mountain lodges ... It was a fantasy Yule, the Yule of nostalgia and stage-plays and paintings.

She had a moment's dazed doubt of her own senses, as if she'd somehow lost touch with their closely confined reality and dreamed herself onto a planet, outdoors. She had to touch the doorframe to bring herself down to the ground. There were those same metal walls, hidden as they were by sophisticated illusions. It might be a hologram, but a hologram couldn't have brought the fresh, sharp scent of pine and snow.

"Did you forget it was Yule?" Heimdall murmured, coming up at her shoulder.

"No, I -- well -- perhaps," she retorted, confusing sharpening her tongue. It was hard to keep track of the days here; one was very like another. "But what -- no, wait."

Because of course there was one thing this could be, one thing it had to be. She looked around for the silver-tongued trickster, and found him, of course -- not with the revelers, but at the edge of the trees, in the snow ... the illusory snow.

"Whose idea was this?" Brunnhilde asked quietly. She found Thor (also quite unsurprisingly) in the heart of a knot of his people by one of the fires, belting out Yule songs.

"You will have to ask those two, but you may not get an answer," Heimdall said. And then, to her complete shock, he picked her up and spun her around, as illusory snow drifted down and speckled her hair.

And Loki looked up and smiled, as snow drifted down, covering everything gently.

*

"You should not exhaust yourself, brother."

"Exhausted?" Loki had been sitting on what appeared to be a log, though it was actually a chair; now he rolled to his feet. This was a mistake; though he thought he covered quite well, there was a ringing in his ears and the deck seemed to become unstable for a moment.

"Yes," Thor said, catching him gently by the arm. "I'm sure you know the meaning of the word."

"Mere child's play." In truth, setting up the illusion had been the most draining part; keeping it going was more a matter of concentration, in the way of reading a difficult book. It had been an interesting challenge at first, had quickly grown boring, and now it was giving him a headache.

He'd been entertaining himself for the last little while by inserting incongruous elements: a tree that seemed to grow vines, reaching for the unwary person standing beside it; a troll lurking among the pine trees. For the most part his embellishments had gone unnoticed and had made his headache worse. Ingrates.

"It's a good thing you've done here this day, brother." Thor put an arm around him. Loki decided for the sake of Yule harmony to let him (and also because Thor was warm, and Loki was now discovering he was quite cold).

"I was bored," he said with affected nonchalance.

"Mmm. Yes." Thor was smiling, a light dancing in his one eye. "Well, you've given them a lovely day, a much-needed break from the tedium of shipboard life -- and now you should end it before you collapse."

"I am not going to collapse," Loki muttered. Standing up had, however, been a mistake, and there was the sudden sense of the illusion slipping sideways, sliding out of his grasp -- and suddenly there were only the bare walls again, and the fires (those at least were real) flicking in their metal barrels while the ship's ventilation system whisked the smoke away.

There were some startled and dismayed cries.

And then, one by one, they began to turn, looking Loki and Thor's way. With Thor's stupidly huge arm around him, offering both support and confinement at once, Loki really had nowhere to go (though hiding behind Thor was always a valid option, come to think of it). He braced himself and tried to decide if he had the strength at the moment to teleport away, because he was all too familiar with this particular stage of the end of an illusion, when the payment for the lies came due and a wise silver-tongued liar was two star systems away already ...

And then they began to clap.

Loki just stood there, too confused to move for a moment. And then habit reasserted itself. Right! Adulation it was, then! As was his due for an excellent performance, after all. He bowed, and almost overbalanced, and Thor caught him.

"As you can see, my people," Thor declared, "my brother is deeply wearied, and must rest. A good Yule to all of us!"

"I am not 'wearied,'" Loki muttered, annoyed, as Thor steered him out of the hall. "They were applauding me! I deeply resent -- oh no -- Thor, do not --" It was too late; Thor had already picked him up, bridal-carry-style, as he had occasionally done when Loki was a small boy and had fallen asleep reading a book. It had been undignified then; it was doubly so now. "Thor, if you do not put me down --"

Out of pure annoyance, he managed to portal himself back to his room (closet-sized, with the lack of space on the Statesman; it was next door to Thor's). Even more annoyingly, he accidentally brought Thor with him. Thor deposited him unceremoniously onto his bed.

"It was a very good thing you did this day, brother," Thor murmured, kneeling to pull a blanket over him. "Will you be well?"

"Yes yes, I only need to sleep, do go away."

Thor went, surprisingly, but was back moments later with a tray of sliced fruit, dried meats, and a carafe of water. "I recall when you wore yourself out like this, you always needed food afterward --"

"Yes, fine," Loki mumbled through a mouthful of blanket. "Leave now. Goodbye."

Thor patted him on the shoulder, and left him alone. Apparently for good this time.

Alone, he could finally succumb to the exhaustion -- though it was not a painful weariness, but the good kind of tired, as of long, difficult exertion. It had been some time since he'd exercised his magic like this.

He fell asleep thinking of snow.

From:

snickfic

This is so lovely. :') The moment where Loki thinks everyone's about to be mad at him, because that is his habitual expectation of what happens when his tricks are over, BROKE ME. See, look what happens when you use your powers for good! And then the entire thought process of him flipping to be like, ah yes, I expected this - that was great. :D

But also I just love winter and snow (and have none right now unless I'm willing to drive a couple of hours), so Loki's choice of illusions was especially appealing to me. And then Thor knows how to take care of his brother! He carries him to his quarters and feeds him! This all makes me really happy, thank you. <333

From:

sholio

Thank you; I'm so very happy you enjoyed it, and especially happy that the snow/winter motif turned out to be a good one. <3

From:

schneefink

This is lovely!

Loki just stood there, too confused to move for a moment. And then habit reasserted itself. Right! Adulation it was, then!
Heh!

And I also love Thor remembering how to take care of Loki when he gets like this.